Korea University's School of Media & Communication's Smart Media Services Research Center (led by Professor Kim Seong-cheol) was awarded the Minister of Science and ICT Award (Group Award) at the 2023 University ICT Research Center (ITRC) Research Director Workshop held from November 16 to 17, 2023.
This award recognizes outstanding projects in ICT personnel training among 67 related projects, and the Smart Media Services Research Center was selected as an excellent project in the talent development category, thus receiving the Minister of Science and ICT Award. The center had previously won the Minister of Science and ICT Award in the student creative autonomous project category at last year's event for attempting interdisciplinary research among graduate students.
This achievement is particularly significant as the Smart Media Services Research Center is the only center among ICT personnel training projects to have a social scientist serving as the research director, leading substantive research and education in the convergence of social sciences and engineering. The center comprises an elite research group consisting of top-notch experts with outstanding expertise and capabilities in technology (AI, communication technology, security, neuroengineering), data science (big data, application development), and media industry (market, policy) fields. As a leading institution led by Korea University, the center fosters globally competitive advanced professionals based on the engineering, data science, and social science research capabilities of seven universities and two broadcasting research institutions.
With this second consecutive Minister of Science and ICT Award, the Smart Media Services Research Center is expected to continue developing innovative technologies and policies through international collaborative research, active industry-academia cooperation, and creative and challenging research. It is anticipated that the center will continue to produce globally competitive researchers equipped with a comprehensive understanding of smart media technology, ecosystem data analysis, and social science insights into markets and policies.